[Beowulf] Grants for Beowulf Clusters

[Brian D. Ropers-Huilman]

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Timo,

Unfortunately, the NSF and DOE wells are running dry. Actually, we are
quite confused as to what these major organizations are doing in terms of
funding and believe they do not have a clear strategy as of yet. We even
had Peter Freeman down last fall to give a talk and still were not
completely clear on the NSF direction, though this recent article might
shed some light [
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159401335&tid=5978
].

In our estimation, NIH, with a focus on bioinformatics, is the best likely
source. We have also learned that major collaboratories are more likely to
be funded. These agencies no longer want to fund department X's little
cluster, department Y's little cluster, and then department Z's as well.
They would prefer that the departments come together and get funding for a
single larger system.

I realize this does not directly answer your question, but thought I would
provide my viewpoint.

P.S. I was born and raised in Platteville, Wisconsin, not 100 miles from
Decorah, through my undergraduate studies at Madison and my first several
years in the corporate world. Both my and my partner's families are still
there and we both still call Wisconsin "home."

Timo Mechler said the following on 2005.03.11 21:19:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm wondering what kind of success rate people are having with obtaining
> grants for Beowulf type Linux Clusters (for example, from the National
> Science Foundation).  Let me give you a little bit more info as to why I'm
> asking this:  I'm a junior undergraduate at a small liberal arts college
> in Iowa (~2600 students), and have solely been pursuing Beowulf clusters
> for well over a year now.  I believe strongly that even though that my
> school is small, several departments on campus could benefit from the use
> of a beowulf cluster in the research that does go on.  I've been using
> older, slower machines as a proof of concept for now.  Ideally, we would
> want a faster beowulf system eventually that offers significant
> improvements over anything desktop pc's have to offer nowadays.  Being
> that money is an issue at smaller schools, is there any I could obtain a
> grant for a beowulf cluster?  If so, besides the NSF, what would be some
> other sources to apply to?  Since some of you guys on this come from big
> companies or Univesities, I would appreciate any insight and suggestions
> you can give me.  All input is appreciated.  Thanks in advance!
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> -Timo Mechler
> 

- --
Brian D. Ropers-Huilman  .:. Asst. Director .:.  HPC and Computation
Center for Computation & Technology (CCT)        bropers at cct.lsu.edu
Johnston Hall, Rm. 350                           +1 225.578.3272 (V)
Louisiana State University                       +1 225.578.5362 (F)
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-1900  USA              http://www.cct.lsu.edu/
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